West Ham Utd UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final

And for one Hammer, in particular, there will be even more motivation to overcome AZ Alkmaar in tonight’s UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final second leg at the AFAS Stadium.

With next month’s showcase decider scheduled to be played out at the home of his former club, Slavia Prague, Tomáš Souček is desperately hoping that David Moyes’ men will be lining-up at the Eden Arena on June 7.

“From the moment I knew that the final was going to be in Prague I told the guys: ‘Come on, we need to go there because it’s my home!’” reveals the two-time Czech Republic Footballer of the Year, who spent five seasons with Slavia before moving to London Stadium in January 2020. “Right from the beginning of the competition there’s been an extra-special motivation for me to get there because I joined that club when I was just 10-years-old.”

Last season, the Hammers reached the last-four of the UEFA Europa League, where they fell at the final hurdle against eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.

But with West Ham now carrying a 2-1 advantage from the first-leg into tonight’s Dutch date, the 28-year-old midfielder is determined to ensure that they go one better this time around.

“I still haven’t watched those semi-finals because I was so disappointed for many days and even months afterwards,” continues Souček. “I really wanted to get there and it’s even more motivation for all of us to know that we are now just one game from this year’s Conference League final.

“We are very happy that – after last week’s win – we have one more goal than Alkmaar at the moment and it’s in our hands but we don’t want to just come here and defend our lead. We want to play our own way and put on a similar performance, at least, to last Thursday.

“Alkmaar play with a good style all the way from their goalkeeper and we learned a lot from that game. We were losing at half-time but, thankfully, played much better after the break and scored our two goals. Once again, we will need to play like we did in that second half, when we were very good. This time, though, we want to do that from the very first minute.

“We’ve practiced nearly everything because we want to be prepared for whatever’s going to happen in this second-leg and we’re ready both mentally and physically, too.

“During the last few games we’ve shown that we’re heading in the right direction again and the team has great commitment, effort and spirit, which we hope that we can continue to show right until the end of the season.

“Of course, we would like to be higher in the Premier League but if we win the UEFA Europa Conference League, then I think it will still be a very successful campaign,” concludes Souček who has made 152 appearances in the claret and blue during his three years down West Ham way. “This club hasn’t had this chance to lift a trophy for quite a few years now and if we can do it for the supporters that would be perfect for us. That’s our goal and it would make it an incredible season.”